The Singing Guardian of Treasure

On the eastern side of town, from Papež Pond along Koryto towards Huťský Pond, rises the hill of Vargač. A royal castle once stood here; only fragments converted into a granary survive. Underground, a black knight in a dark flowing cloak guards immense treasures. On clear full-moon nights, when the château clock strikes midnight, the doors of a deep cellar beneath the old burgrave’s residence open. From an allegedly Templar tomb emerges a cloaked black knight with a sword at his side and a great red cross on his chest. He crosses the small courtyard to Vargač hill towards the château, sits on a projecting rock above the pond, opens his cloak and plays strange old songs on a lute. Later he falls silent and only sighs. Funeral psalms echo from underground. At the stroke of one, everything vanishes.